Just call me the Cat Crusader (Courtney)

Yesterday turned out to be one of those days you don't expect. Firstly it turned out to be a holiday - woo hoo! Once Marcus returned from discovering this, we hung around at home for a little while, before deciding we would head into the city. We figured we would just go for a wander and then get some dinner. Well as we approached the school gate Mr Pan rang - your salaries are ready for you, you can go and collect them. Another woo hoo! We weren't expecting to get paid for a few days so the added bonus of getting paid meant we would probably upgrade our dinner options!

So we wandered around the city for a couple of hours, ending up at Nanchang Temple looking at the animals. We finished up with some dinner and a couple of drinks before making our way to the bus stop. And this is where our tale begins...

Whilst walking to the bus stop, we passed a German bar on this little side street. Ah, what the heck, let's go have a beer. In we go to the bar, and pick between every empty table in the outside courtyard. It was a really lovely place, a nice little beer garden and the owner came and sat with us and had a chat. Bizarrely whilst she was Chinese her English almost had a German accent to it. She was telling us how on one side of the bar is a restaurant/teahouse, and the other side is KTV. KTV being the Chinese equivalent of karaoke. Before we left I ducked in to use the bathroom which was in the teahouse. You had to see this place, it was amazing, all old, carved wood, little tables everywhere, a young girl playing traditional music. We will definately be back! So we said goodbye to Anny and carried on our way.

On the way to the bus stop we ducked into the DVD shop to have a browse. By the time we left there and continued to the bus stop I needed the bathroom again...badly. We ummed and ahhed and finally decided that we would walk back up the street and go to Blu Bar. That way I could use the bathroom and...we could have another beer! We crossed the road and start walking back. As we pass an abandoned building we can hear these incredibly loud miaows coming from the darkness. There are a couple of people hanging around and as we walk over we can see two tiny kittens. They couldn't have been more than 5 weeks old and there was no mum in sight. These two little fellas were practically screaming, you could tell they were starving and were at that desperation point of either having to leave the safety of their building, or go near the humans to get some food. They kept darting in and out of the building, they'd get near you then dart back. So we spent some time trying to coax them out but had no success. On to Blue Bar for another drink.

On the way out we went back to the building, and this time there was a family there. One child was at the building, and another one was poking around in a bush on the footpath. One of the little kittens had made a bid for freedom and was now hiding in the bush. The family ended up leaving and we decided that the poor things needed some food, so we walked back up the road again to the Kedi. Kedis are the equivalent of a 7/11 so we figured we'd find something for them in there. A few minutes later and we've returned with a small carton of milk (even though we know cats are lactose intolerant) and a can of fish. Sadly for the cats they had two options - spicy fish or fish with black beans, so we went with the beans.

With food open, the little one in the building just couldn't refuse. Out he came and with one quick move he was mine! The other little one was still in the bushes, with Marcus hovering nearby. You could tell he wanted in on the action but was still too scared, but it wasn't long before Marcus had grabbed him too and brought him over.

You should note my hands in this shot. These little fellas were so dirty and this guy was so excited to be eating that he peed all over me. But look at his little mouth with milk on it!

Marcus put this one down, it grabbed a huge chunk of fish and was off back to the safety of the building!

So here we are, sitting on the filthy steps of this abandoned building feeding these two little kittens. They were just absolutely adorable and I needed serious talking to put my little fella back down. If it hadn't have been for our holiday coming up they would have been in my bag and on their way home with us in a taxi!

Not a great shot, but indicates how dirty we were by the end of this. I was covered in dirt, milk, fish and pee. Marcus had to beat the heck out of my pants to get me looking clean. We headed back to Blue Bar so we could wash our hands. I walk into the bathroom and there is a girl at the basin. I just hover behind her. She looks at me in the mirror and says - oh it's free, there is no one in there. I casually say, oh I just need to wash my hands. She of course then looks at my hands. I can't imagine what she thought I must have done to get my hands in this state, but her look basically said hmm, I think this girl is crazy. My hands were absolutely rotten.

Our adventure didn't stop there. Where we get off the bus, we walk through a housing community called Yin Yue Yuan. It goes from the main street of our area through to the school street. There is a large community area in the middle which is always teeming with people, so we often feel like we are intruding when we walk through. Well last night the place was deserted, so we decided to give the exercise equipment a go! The oldies normally use these during the day, they love their exercise and movement. Well we had fun and might plan on going back under the cover of darkness again!

And if we happen to find ourselves in the city again over the weekend we might just have to go back and check on the kitties!